Pandemis cerasana

• Subfamily: Tortricinae, Archipini
• Wingspan: 16-25 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

The Pandemis cerasana also called Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix is a moth of the Tortricidae family, subfamily Tortricinae, with wingspan of about 16-22 in males and 17-25 in females. *, **
Distributed in most of Europe with the exception of Portugal, Slovenia and Ukraine. *
In Italy it is absent from the islands. *

The front wings of the Pandemis cerasana are ocher in color; the livery is completed with a band near the head, a transverse band and a light brown distal margin. The spots are edged in brown color. **, ***
The hind wings are greyish brown; antennae of the male with a basal notch. ***

Adult females lay their eggs in greenish oviplates on the leaves. Once the larvae have reached maturity, they pupate among the leaves that bind and roll up, characteristically, with silk threads. ****

Adults flicker approximately from the second decade of May to the first half of June (with peaks of flicker at the end of May: 1st flight). From these oviposition the originates new generation, with larval activity in the months of June-July.
The adults originating from this generation (2nd flight) fly between July and August and originate the young larvae destined to overwinter. ****

They overwinter at the stage of young larvae, both in the crevices of the rind and in other shelters, obtained with dry leaves, at the base or on the plants themselves.
The larva is essentially phyllophagous (it feeds on leaves), but it can equally nibble the hair of the fruits near the foliage.

The egg is flat and oval deposited in an oval-shaped plate. ***
The approximately 20 mm long caterpillar is translucent bluish green with more or less developed brown spots. Light green to brownish green head (often with brown wedge pattern). Prothoracic shield green or yellowish green, with dark sides and posterior margin and which can be spotted with brown in its posterior half. ***

The Pupa of Pandemis cerasana is 9-15 mm long with a color ranging from light brown to brownish black, darker on the back, the cremaster length greater than the width.

The larvae are polyphagous and feed on various deciduous trees and shrubs Abies sp. (fir), Alnus sp. (alder), Acer sp. (maple), Betula sp. (birch), Crataegus, (hawthorn) Fraxinus (ash), Quercus sp. (oak) including fruit trees (especially apple, pear, and cherry and plum).


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Eurasian Tortricidae 2.0 - https://eurasian-tortricidae.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/
**** istruzione agraria online - https://www.agraria.org/